filling out the space
Lisa Piper (Drew Barrymore) is an 11 year old girl in Cincinnati. A snow storm is coming and her mother (Eileen Brennan) is struggling to come home. Her older sister Mary (Jill Schoelen) works in Mr. Barnie (Richard Mulligan)'s toy store with cute stock boy Jack Fenton (Keanu Reeves). Jack is driving the sisters home when Lisa falls out of the Jeep and hits a tree. She is transported to Toyland.Toyland needs more magic. It's basically a backlot with fresh grass recently laid down. This was apparently filmed in West Germany which explains the strangeness in the location. It's oddly cheap in production value but they seem to be trying. There are lots of Furries and lots of everything. It's just that it's a struggle to fill out the space in the exterior shots. By comparison, the dungeon looks fine despite being in a smaller space. It's a struggle.
The other struggle is the musical aspect. The actors are not necessarily good singers. They struggle at times. Mulligan's role needs to be played by a younger actor. He should be a young middle-aged manager for the wedding and the sexual harassment to be less creepy. This movie has a good amount of cheese factor with a healthy side of creep. I'd recommend getting rid of the creepiness. This is a made-for-TV musical theater. It does have a young Drew and Keanu. That's something but the struggle is real.
score 4/10
SnoopyStyle 1 January 2021
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6432083/34791
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